1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed to a mechanism for scrubbing bottles prior to use. More particularly, the present invention is directed to a mechanism for scrubbing the outside of polycarbonate water bottles having a circular cross section while inverted without imparting extensive abrasion to the necks of the bottles.
2. The Prior Art
Cylindrically-shaped five gallon/19 liter water bottles are ubiquitous throughout the world. These bottles have a cylindrical body with a narrow tapered neck and an opening at the top of the neck. They are found in virtually every office building. In the past, these bottles were made of heavy glass and were recycled by use of glass bottle cleaning technology. Glass bottles have in essence completely disappeared from the market having been replaced by lighter and far less breakable polycarbonate bottles. Such bottles are typically used by a customer, emptied, stored somewhere for awhile, and then picked up for re-use by a delivery person who brings new, full bottles for use by the customer. During the storage and transportation phases of this process there is ample opportunity for the bottles to become covered with dirt. Dirty bottles must be cleaned before re-use.
There are a number of bottle washer devices presently available in the marketplace. The purpose of these devices is primarily directed at cleaning the inside of the bottle to make it clean for the receipt of drinking water. Typically these devices take an input stream on a conveyor belt of 5 gallon/19 liter cylindrically shaped water bottles, some of which may be quite dirty, clean the insides of the bottles, fill the bottles with drinking water, and cap them. Examples of these bottle washer/fillers are the Econo Plant, MiniPlant and Double End Washers from D & L Manufacturing Company, Inc. of Menomonee Falls, Wis., various washing, filling and capping systems from Cap Snap Co. of San Jose, Calif., and the VK-375 full service filling station from Viking Water Systems, Inc. of Tustin, Calif. These prior art systems all provide washing sprays to attempt to clean the bottles. Caked on dirt which is not significantly removed by the sprays must be removed either before or after filling in a manual process, such as by having employees hand scrub the dirtiest bottles. This manual process is undesirable because it adds cost and unpredictability to the process.